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Child care and insomnia

Living and Writing Joyously with Insomnia By Amy Berger Miracles do happen. After surviving nearly four dozen publisher rejections of my first humor book (which I ultimately self published) and then a dozen more on the proposal for my second book, the angels decided to give me a break. On March 1st I signed a contract with a small press in Berkeley, California, to write my third book. Two weeks later my daughter, Zoe, turned nine months old. The journey I had wished for so long –that of living my life as a wife/mother/writer had begun. I began writing my third book while Zoe took one of her 45 minute power naps. After 40 minutes I barely warmed up to the keyboard! Clearly, my first order of business was to find reliable day care. I wanted to find an ultra-responsible teenager who could keep Zoe company in our spacious family room while I tapped away on the keyboard in our home office. Our mature 13 1/2 year old neighbor, Nancy seemed to fit the bill. I considered my problem solved until that fateful Wednesday afternoon she didn’t show up at the appointed time and my writing schedule was shot to hell. Hours later Nancy called me to apologize: “I’m soooo sorry, Amy! I fell asleep on the couch! “ Why can’t every one be as anal retentive as me? I thought as I tried to smile through clenched teeth. The next day I placed advertisements on local high school job boards and hoped for the best. After interviewing a few eager respondents, 17-year-old Janice, seemed the perfect fit. She was perky, energetic, a licensed driver and comfortable with changing diapers. After our first afternoon together I paid Janice, shook her hand and explained how happy I was with her work. I had completed a nice amount of writing and thought that my day care prayers had been answered. Later that night, however, something strange happened. In the middle of the night I woke up with heart pounding and a sweating brow. How can I trust this stranger with my baby for 15 hours per week? Janice could up and kidnap Zoe some afternoon and I don’t even know where this teenager lives! Yep, my fear-demons were having a field day and it wasn’t pretty. When I wrote my first book two years earlier, the process was a creative respite from my 9 to 5 job. Taking care of my daughter was now my full time job and it lasted a lot longer than eight hours per day. Writing became a responsibility and, often times, a nuisance. The good news during this time, however, was since I wasn’t sleeping too well--- worrying about babysitters of course---- I did a substantial amount of writing in the wee hours. The better news is that my third book is about living joyously with insomnia so my credibility went up and up! By mid-April I decided to take a deep breath and trust. I enrolled Zoe at Karen’s Day Care for two afternoons per week. It was a facility we used earlier in the year and Zoe seemed to like it there. Karen’s house was bright and clean; the other kids were friendly. She even offered to supply baby food at no extra charge and actually got my daughter to eat it. Between Karen, my angel-husband, John-- who watched Zoe many weekends--- and those moonlit early morning writing sessions, I managed to finish the book on time. Organizational skills learned in the corporate world, coupled with my sense of humor earned at the School of Hard Knocks and the right amount of prayer to the Goddess of Life Balance really paid off. Former Fremont resident, Amy Berger, is an aging Valley girl who returned to her roots in October, 2001. She lives with her husband and daughter in Reseda, California. Her first book, The Twenty Year Itch: Confessions of a Corporate Warrior (ISBN 0-9665915-0-X) is a light hearted look back at the working world from a Silicon Valley female manager’s viewpoint. Amy Berger’s upcoming book, What to Do When You’re Awake: An Insomniac’s Guide to the Night, will be published by Wildcat Canyon Press. Amy can be reached at amyberger@socal.rr.com.

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